Supply Lists are like Christmas

Most of my summer mornings start off with a cup of coffee (that I have to warm up 4 times because I get distracted and it gets cold) and getting lost down Pinterest rabbit-holes...which leads me to open up 20 different tabs on my computer and ends with me comparing paper clip deals on Amazon. It's a wonderful thing, really.

But this morning I was very responsible and checked my school email first. The school supply list sent out to parents was e-mailed to me and seeing what my students would bring was a little bit LOT like Christmas.
I know I'm in the right profession if school supplies can make me giddy.
In all seriousness though, it was a relief to see what students would bring because I wasn't quite sure what I needed to buy myself.
Knowing that I will have expo markers and sticky notes just makes my heart happy :)

*insert third coffee warm-up

This supply talk reminds me of a picture I saw on Pinterest that made me laugh:

I love the 30 popcorn container part.

There is still SO much I need to do before the first day of school (and being a first-year teacher, I am probably unaware of half of it). But, I am making progress on the supply front!

I really would like to keep this blog centered around 7th Grade ELA (which doesn't seem too challenging, considering that is the grade I will be teaching...)

So, here are a few articles/links I found this morning while sipping cold coffee:

Teaching English to Tough Kids 
(because as much as I LOVE to curl up with a book, I realize all my students won't. At first.)

Five Ways to Use Memes to Connect with Students
I really want to start off the year with expectations/procedure meme-style. They're relevant to the students, funny, and they amuse me too :)

That cat one just kills me.

A lastly, here are a few new middle schools blogs I found...(it is also little bit like Christmas to come across an awesome ELA blog)

A Teacher's Treasure (really great INB foldable ideas and lots of freebies! I can see myself exploring this blog for a long time)

Mrs. Megan Ellis (this is where I first read about Article of the Week - I would love to do something similar in my classroom)

Are there any other awesome blogs that I should know about? How about any Pinterest finds?